I Try It So You Don’t Have To: Scrapple

It is amazing to me that, in a country so wasteful, scrap meat is so popular. As a nation, we willingly consume hot dogs, deviled ham, and even potted meat. In the same country, we let our water run excessively, leave the lights burning, and chuck containers of leftovers in the trash on a daily basis. Heaven forbid, though, that we let a pig snout or hoof go to waste. We must grind it up. We must eat it. NO ORGAN LEFT BEHIND.

My friend JP, a vegetarian, often opines about missing one meat item: scrapple. Scrapple always struck me as the grossest of scrap meats, but I’ve never had it. JP speaks about it with such love and affection, I knew I had to give it a fair shake. If a vegetarian’s eye can twinkle at the mere mention of this meaty mush log, it had to have something going for it.

Smell: One word: Thanksgiving. It is an overpoweringly sagey scent, which was totally unexpected. I suddenly became quite excited that this might actually taste pleasant.

Texture/ Appearance: Formed in to a greyish brick, it has the the texture of a firm hot dog when uncooked; a bit rubbery with some give. It is wet and a tad slimey. I cut it in to thin slices at the suggestion of my friend and could see the flecks of spices and pepper studded throughout the meat. Cooked in a pat of butter, the edges crisped up a bit, while the inside remained mushy with a slightly grainy texture.

Taste: Salty and sagey. It is like a mixture of pork and bacon. I actually didn’t mind it much. I served it with eggs and ketchup and found it pretty pleasing. I was fully prepared for something repulsive and stomach turning, but the taste was rather innocuous. Who knew lips and cartilage could taste so good?

Final verdict: I still prefer sausage as my breakfast meat of choice, but I would eat this again. It is definitely one of those things where you cannot think about what it actually is or your stomach turns. Yet, if you sit back and enjoy the ride, it is a tasty little piece of garbage.

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Lemmonex writes almost daily about life, food, and the perils of being a pretty, pretty princess at her blog, Culinary Couture.

I was never deterred by reports of what was or was not in hot dogs, but I reached a point pretty early in life where I decided the texture was kind of gross, and since hamburgers were available 80% of the places hot dogs were, that was the easy alternative.

What’s the deal with people in Pennsylvania eating that stuff with jam on top? Would that taste good? I just remember being hungover and watching multiple people scopping big layers of jam onto the scrapple. Any clues on this?

I have asked a few scrapple-eating friends about the jam. None have done this but said it could be tasty. Ya know how the sweet syrup on bacon is kinda awesome? I am imagining the same effect with scrapple and jam.

I grew up in DE, and had the occasion to try scrapple when I was a kid. Wasn’t a big fan of it then, and even less so once I found out what it was.

What I realize now is that, the couple of times I’d tried it, I neve saw it in its original form, and seeing it now makes it even less appetizing. Before it clicked, I was sitting here wondering why you included that big block of granite in the picture….

And this from the girl that wouldn’t eat meat until 3 years old and then stopped eating it again at 15 years old until she went to college. It may taste ok, but I do tend to eat with my brain and get grossed out easily so I will not eat this! I do however want to thank-you for this review!

I still don’t think I will try scrapple but you really gave it an honest chance and I respect that. You are doing important (and hilarious) work for the good of the people. Thanks! Also, its not too late to check out the Apple Scrapple festival in Delaware. If you miss it, you might still make it to punkin chunkin however. Can’t wait to see what you write about next!!

Lemmonex — you HAVE to try scrapple with maple syrup. In fact, my advice would be to high-tail it over to Market Lunch, the hilarious soup-nazi-esque lunch counter at Eastern Market, and try their scrapple. With maple syrup. I promise you, heaven in every sweet and salty bite.